


(eye of the) hurricane

by jenovibez



Category: NCT (Band)
Genre: Ballet Dancers AU, Bottom Na Jaemin, F/M, Het Renmin!!, Mommy Kink, Other kpop people but they’re only background characters, Romeo and Juliet References, Top Huang Ren Jun, ballet dancer!jaemin, ballet dancer!jeno, ballet dancer!renjun, jaemin likes to be called bun idk, renjun owns a strap on, uh ok now the ‘nsfw‘ tags
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-12
Updated: 2020-08-12
Packaged: 2021-03-06 03:22:03
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,489
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25866616
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jenovibez/pseuds/jenovibez
Summary: she wraps her arms around his waist and they just hug each other, because she knows deep down that she couldn’t have done this without him.
Relationships: Huang Ren Jun & Lee Jeno, Huang Ren Jun/Na Jaemin
Comments: 1
Kudos: 42





	(eye of the) hurricane

**Author's Note:**

> i have disappeared recently BUT happy birthday jaemin!! even if this was renjun centric ❤️

renjun takes a deep breath as she pirouettes across the stage, dynamically twirling into her partner's arms. she locks eyes with jaemin as he lifts her up, over his shoulder and up into the air. her legs cut through the air as she's spun around, effortlessly extended as she's set down again. jaemin's arms are strong and firm as she falls into them, and she entrusts him completely with his whole weight. the music takes her to another world. it's entrancing, and she gets completely absorbed into the dance as jaemin and her work as one. 

the _balcony pas de deux_ scene they've just perfected is one of her favourites—it lets her and jaemin communicate through their movements only, and they don't need to share even as much as a single word to execute the moves perfectly. they don't even feel the many eyes of their peers and fellow dancers watching from the wings and audience as they practice. jaemin, her romeo, puts his heart and soul into the character, face demonstrating more than words could as he glides across the stage. 

renjun doesn't even have to think about what position her feet are supposed to be in next—it comes so naturally that she can put more attention into the emotion her face conveys and the extension of her entire body, up to the tips of her fingers. jaemin sets her down for a final time, and renjun looks back at him before delicately running away from jaemin. her partner grabs her hand and she extends her foot behind her, front foot turned out before she turns around. they're locked in a single moment of calm, quiet. jaemin lifts her up onto pointe, and they press their lips together lightly, turning slowly yet gracefully, before finally, renjun pulls away and runs into the wings, closing their act. 

the lights come back on, and she can finally breathe as she looks back at jaemin, who's bent over and breathing heavily, still here renjun last left him. one of the younger students runs onto stage, hugging jaemin and congratulating him before sending renjun a huge smile. the ballet master, taeyong, walks over to them with a huge smile on his face. as always, the practice went as planned. the performance is in two months, and renjun is extremely excited. she wants to bring the magic and wonder ballet is to her to the stage. 

she hugs jaemin tight, and the younger of the two wipes the sheen of sweat off his forehead before returning the embrace. taeyong calls out to jaemin, and tells renjun that she's free to change and get ready to go home. she blows a kiss to jaemin, who jogs off stage to taeyong with a bright smile as renjun heads to the changing rooms. she emerges ten minutes later, only to be met with jaemin being tickled by one of the younger members of the ballet. his giggles ring loud and they bring a grin to renjun's lips. still, no matter how cute jaemin's laugh sounds, she can't leave him like this. she laughs and pushes the younger kid off lightly, helping jaemin to his feet and shoving his bag into his arms. 

"now come on, you owe me an ice lolly."

she says playfully as jaemin pulls a new shirt over his head and stuffs the sweat soaked one into his bag. the ballet masters at the academy have them diet with fairly strict rules, but they are allowed a few treats like this a week. renjun used to hate it, but taeyong takes them out for a team dinner once a week where they can eat anything, so it's worth it. they leave as taeyong begins to dismiss the rest of the cast, and close up the stage area. jaemin links his hands with renjun, before the shorter of the two pulls him along. 

——

renjun loves practice. she feels her best in front of the mirror, hand placed on the ballet barre as she and her friends work in sync, practicing their grande battements, pliés and pirouettes as they wait for taeyong to finish with the ballerinos (including jaemin) in the other practice room. she looks to her side, and smiles when she sees dahyun and soyeon surrounded by a couple of the other ballerinas—tzuyu, , chungha and irene—cheering them on as they challenge each other to do as many fouetté turns as they can. dahyun gives in after a while, and both girls giggle before settling down as taeyong comes into the room, with another one of the ballet masters—taeyeon. 

"tzuyu and dahyun, you guys need to go practice on stage for your scene. wooseok and hyunjin will be waiting for you."

she says, and renjun's eyes drift over to the clock—which reads seven pm, almost the end of their hours long practice—and she breathes a sigh of relief. upon seeing that practice is about half an hour away from being over, she begins to feel the pain her body is feeling at the moment. her feet ache from where they're tightly laced into her pointe shoes, and she thinks that she can feel one or two of her toes bleeding. still, the feeling of joy that dance brings to her is more than enough to help her work through the temporary pain, because in a month, she gets to perform romeo and juliet with jaemin and the rest of the cast. 

"renjun, chungha, have you had all your costumes fitted for saturday? the team is waiting on standby for us to send any of you for last minute adjustments."

renjun shakes her head, as she recalls that her ballroom dress—for the scene where she first meets romeo—fitted yet. the last time she practiced in it, it tripped her up, leaving her stumbling into jaemin's arms with a laugh. taeyong wasn't as amused, but still smiled and let her change back into her usual leotard to finish practice. she also sees chungha shake her head, and recalls her when she was practicing for her role as rosaline, and the top of the dress kept slipping off her shoulders, making it very hard to keep focused and continue dancing with jaemin. 

honestly, renjun doesn't mind jaemin dancing with her nor the rest of the girls. she's not an insecure, jealous bitch, and jaemin auditioned for the lead role with the both o them knowing that he would be dancing with a lot of other ballerinas other than renjun. besides, jaemin loves to treat her to a netflix date most nights he does so. it's a win-win. she's snapped out of her thoughts when jaemin and some of the other ballerinos pass through the practice room. he grins at her, but unfortunately isn't able to greet her with much more, since renjun is whisked out of the room to the seamstresses. 

chungha looks at her with a grin as she notices renjun staring at jaemin, and nudges her as she laughs. renjun rolls her eyes and huffs, already knowing what she's going to say. chungha continues to smile as they stride down the hallway, passing other practice rooms. they spot a few of the younger classes at the academy, with some just doing regular practice and others seemingly executing their ballet exams. renjun remembers doing them, they were awful and her whole body aches for weeks after. thankfully, she passed them all with flying colours and became one of the top prima ballerinas in the country. 

——

the next stage practice they have in a week is shaky. renjun won't lie. her feet are hurting in her pointe shoes (she can't figure out whether her toes are bleeding or if her shoes are just laced too tight for today) and her back aches everytime she bends a little further than she can. her and jaemin's lifts are pretty affected by this—half of the time, she's bent over his shoulder with her head tipped back, so she's having to stretch every time she's put down. 

"renjun! make sure you're expressing through your face in this scene!"

taeyong calls, and she knows it's just critique, but it frustrates her. she's not able to express through her facial expressions because she's focusing so hard on how to place her feet without them hurting and how to bend without her back aching. she doesn't want to snap back, because she's seen people do that, and taeyong and taeyeon have gone so far as to pull people from their main roles and let the understudy go on in their place if their attitude isn't right. so she stays quiet, and puts a little more energy into her facial expressions. taeyong seems satisfied, so she declares it a win for herself.

they take a break halfway through their scene, and taeyeon announces that they'll be practicing the scene again, but this time in their costumes for it. renjun sighs, grits her teeth at the fact that they'll probably have to run through a few more times. so she puts her hand up and asks taeyong for a few minutes so that she can go to the changing rooms. thankfully, he agrees, and she makes it back to the practice room as fast as she can. she sits herself down on the bench, and slowly unlaces her pointes and lo and behold, her feet have a few small blisters on them. she pulls out her spare plasters and a roll of exercise tape, and does what she can to both cover up the blisters and support her feet, but she hasn't got the time to do it as well as she could.

she winces as she tightens the satin shoes again, but sucks it up as she walks back to the stage to be fitted into her dress. she sees taeyong watching her, but decides to keep quiet because she gets the next week off, since taeyong and taeyeon have to work to do on the ballet academy's other performances. her best friend chenle is actually starring in their adaptation of cinderella two months after they perform romeo and juliet. renjun smiles at jaemin, albeit a little shaky, but it's still a smile to reassure him that she's okay. he rolls his eyes and holds a hand out so that they'll both be ready for their next run through. she takes his hand, and jaemin hugs her tight. it's comforting. 

——

"come on renjun! please?"

jaemin pleads with her, as she gets up from their shared couch. she holds her sides and tries to catch her breath as she shoots a playful glare at the younger, as he holds his arms out in front of him. she rolls her eyes and looks away, standing in front of him with her back to him. she hears fabric rustling and then feels his arms around her waist, and his whining voice in her ear again. he spins her around, and she sighs as he pouts at her. jaemin loves to whine about things, and since renjun has a soft spot for him and his pout, he always gets what he wants.

"we are _not_ watching the entire star wars saga again and you are _not_ tickling me into it, babe."

renjun retorts, but jaemin's puppy eyes seem to widen and his pout grows bigger. she has to close her eyes to ignore him, but she keeps hearing him whining about this being 'unfair' and 'you always get to pick on movie night'. he sounds like a small child. she eventually sighs, tired of hearing him in her ear, and pushes him back down onto the couch, before laying his head in her lap. she covers his mouth and ignores him as she browses through netflix's assortment of terrible horror films. she settles on scream after 'way too long' according to jaemin, but she only laughs. 

"baby, we watched a star wars last week."

she says, and jaemin huffs, looking up at her (having given up being cute to get what he wants). she smiles back down at him, kind of proud of herself for standing up to his cuteness for once. jaemin is a bit of a spoiled brat when it comes to home life, and he's definitely a pillow princess, since renjun just can't stop herself from pampering and babying him every minute she has the chance. 

"renjunnie please."

jaemin tries again, but renjun silences him with a hand in his hair, massaging his scalp. his whines and pleads for her to put on something he wants to watch soon die out, and the next time she looks down, he's fast asleep in her lap. jaemin's long eyelashes cast shadows over his cheeks and his pearly white hair is frazzled from the number of times he's begged her to bleach the roots again. he's absolutely stunning, and renjun finds herself stilling her hand and simply watching him as his chest slowly rises up and down and his breaths fall from his lips softly. she forgets to watch the film, and relaxes as she watches her boyfriend pretty much with heart eyes. she falls asleep instead. 

——

renjun arrives to practice the week before the performance with tape, bandaids and pure will to do well that day. her feet are bruised up from all the practice she's done recently, both in and out of the ballet academy. the stage is beginning to be set up—the production team has come in and begun to string up the lights and finish off their costumes. some of the camera crew is here for practice shots, as well as the final pictures for last minute advertisements. despite the final dress being finished, renjun chooses to wear her usual leotard and tights. they're more comfortable, and the last thing she needs at the moment is another uncomfortable thing to wear. jaemin is clinging onto her the whole time she's not on stage, with or without him, and she does find comfort in it. her feet have continued to ache throughout the practice, even though she's been sat down and off stage for a lot of the initial run through. 

then taeyeon announces that they'll be running through a final time in costume before they wrap up. renjun is whisked backstage with chungha and they are both handed folded up dresses and the matching pointe shoes that they recently broke in for the performance. renjun is half relieved to be offstage and half worried because they're running through the entire three act performance again. 

but her worries dissipate when she puts on the costume. the dress is chiffon, light and airy and it flows around her as she spins. the dress is drop waist with small diamanté's littered across the fabric, light blue around the midsection. the sleeves are ruffled in some places and come right down to the wrists. the stylists simple tie her hair up and give her the headpiece she is to wear in the real performance. it's stunning, and sparkles in the light of the dressing room. she spins in the mirror a few times, but has to stop when she's called back to the stage. 

"are you alright?"

taeyong double checks with her before they send her onto stage. she's wincing at the blisters on her feet, and limping a little as her ankle aches, but she nods to him. many of the ballerinas end up like this after weeks of practice like they've been through, and after all, renjun has already run though all three acts. so he nods, and takes his place in front of the stage to watch. she makes it to the second scene of act two. the balcony scene she loves so much. 

their lifts and spins and turns look beautiful, but as much as she looks like she's effortlessly being lifted and set down, twirling and pirouetting, she's gritting her teeth in pain and hiding it behind her serene emotions. just as she's set down for the last time, like she had two months ago when she and jaemin has first perfected this scene, and she stands up on point one final time with jaemin's careful hand, she hears a crack as her ankle gives out, and suddenly she's on the floor with her ears ringing. 

she sees jaemin's panicked face, but she can't hear anything as she looks at her ankle, and cries out in pain as she tries to move it to no avail. taeyong has rushed over by this point, and is knelt down next to her, trying to get her attention. she hears his voice muffled in the back of her mind, but the main thing she's thinking about is the fact that she might've just broken her ankle. taeyong says something to jaemin, and it's only when he brings a hand to her face and wipes away the tears staining her checks that she realises she's crying and her chest is heaving. she feels herself being lifted up by jaemin. she never lets him carry her—she likes to think that jaemin is her baby and she should protect him, like a knight protects his princess—but when she moves a little to protest, she cries out in agony as her ankle throbs. 

"hang on renjun."

——

"—stress fractured in the heel, and a displaced lateral malleolus fracture. that's your fibula, around your ankle."

renjun hears, but it feels like her head is full of cotton wool. her heart is heavy, and she feels freezing cold despite being dressed in jaemin's hoodie and sweatpants and wrapped up in her boyfriend's arms. taeyong is on the other end of the phone, awaiting further instructions from the doctor. renjun curls into jaemin's arms as she hears the horrifying news, and tears threaten to spill over her lash line. 

"how long is the estimated recovery time?"

taeyong asks, voice soft and calm considering their circumstance. renjun tries to cover her ears but is stopped by jaemin, who holds her hands and laces their fingers together to support her. she sighs, and awaits the doctor's advice and order, heart heavy. 

"four to six months off completely if you choose not to go through surgery, but ankle strength rehab can begin around month four if the bone is healed."

doctor qian replies, and renjun's heart sinks. four to six months off means no romeo and juliet, no swan lake after that, and no end of year display, and it also means that all her hard work in practice, trying her best to get this role, has been worth nothing. jaemin squeezes her hand as she breaks down into tears again, and she hears taeyong sigh on the other end of the call. jaemin hangs up and hugs renjun tighter than before, comforts her as she sobs into her hands. 

"you get the choice of a boot or surgery. surgery will take slightly less time to heal but you will need to be very careful afterwards."

——

so renjun chooses the boot. she's been terrified of surgery since her friend donghyuck woke up during it. thankfully, it wasn't a horror story and they just sedated him, but renjun has been deathly afraid of surgery since. jaemin has been by her side the whole time, despite seeming heartbroken that he didn't get to dance with her at the performance. taeyong and taeyeon gave her a front seat to watch, and have kept the practice room open for her to come and watch, talk to some of her friends, but it's not the same. watching irene dance with jaemin wasn't the same as dancing with him herself. it felt horrible, if she's honest. 

"jaemin."

she starts, and her boyfriend looks over at her from the other side of the dining table. she's become overly analytical as of late, watching through her old videos of her dancing at the practice room's ballet barre, critiquing everything she can and practicing what she can just so that she can be even better and have less weakness when she gets back. she watches jaemin carefully as he takes another bite of his cereal, a bored expression on his face. 

"yeah, renjun?"

he replies, usual smile widening as he sees her watching him. 

"are you mad at me. because i didn't get to dance with you."

she asks quietly, and watches as jaemin's eyes widen and he shakes his head. he quickly abandons his cereal bowl to come sit next to her, and he takes her hand in mine. their eyes meet, and renjun sees true concern and care in his eyes. it's rare to see jaemin without a playful glint in his eyes or a grin on his lips, but moments like this let renjun know that he really does care. 

"renjun, i love you. i couldn't be mad at you for that. i know how much that role meant to you and honestly, i'm so sorry that i couldn't dance with you."

he says, and renjun smiles weakly, leaning forwards and pressing a soft kiss to jaemin's lips. 

"i love you too."

——

renjun is soon bored out of her mind by not being able to do anything. she goes to physical therapy (thanks to taeyeon) once a week and even visits the hospital for hydrotherapy once or twice a month with jaemin to keep her company. when she's at home, there isn't much she can do. shes watched every terrible horror film on netflix, every series that's been recommended to her, all of the marvel film that are on netflix, and is beginning to think she might have to ask some more people. their movie nights have devolved into 'star wars and takeaway' nights, which jaemin loves. her, not so much. the times that jaemin goes to practice, renjun tags along and visits her friends. she's hung out with donghyuck and chenle as much as she can, but they both have very busy schedules—donghyuck being a basketball player and chenle a ballerina like her—so she's missing them more than ever. 

today, she's decided not to go see her friends at the ballet. jaemin is at practice, and she's been left to do what she can at home. she's developed an odd obsession with cleaning over her three months of 'boredom'. she scrubs everything she can at every chance she gets, but she's starting to think that it's just the fact that she _can't do any dance_. 

"renjun?"

she hears, and pokes her head around the door as she hears donghyuck's voice. she smiles brightly and hobbles over to him on her boot, and greets him with a tight hug. he's clearly just come from practice. he smells like sweat mixed with the faint smell of body wash, and he's dressed in basketball shorts and a hoodie, and his hair is dishevelled and wet, and his smile is huge, as usual. suddenly, she sees chenle behind him, and she giggles at the sight of her best friend. donghyuck steps out of the way and drops his training bag on the floor before kicking off his shoes. chenle has clearly also come from ballet, as she still has her hair pulled back in a tight bun, and she's also wearing an oversized t-shirt and shorts. renjun hugs her tightly, and chenle wraps her arms around her even tighter. 

"hi renjunnie!"

she exclaims happily, and holds up a plastic bag from the corner store. it seems to be full of pocky, liquorice, and a few chocolate bars and energy drinks. she's surprised by them obviously, she hasn't heard about them coming over today. but she's still grateful that they're here—she's bored out of her mind today. 

"hi lele, duckie! what're you guys doing here?"

she asks, and they both roll their eyes. 

"obviously, we wanted to see you."

donghyuck replies, and chenle nods happily. she turns around and motions for renjun to hop up, and she reluctantly agreed. chenle piggy backs her over to the couch and sits down with her still on her back. thankfully, neither of them are exactly heavy, since they're ballerinas, so neither gets squashed on impact. donghyuck rolls his eyes and pulls out a small dvd album, and renjun thanks whatever god is in the sky guiding her that she didn't throw out the old dvd player she still owns.

"thanks guys, i really wasn't having a great day."

she says as donghyuck flops down on a beanbag on the floor. he sends her a lazy smile as a response as he switches on the dvd player, no longer having to blow off dust like they used to (since renjun has obsessively cleaned it so much). as soon as the movie starts, renjun finds herself relapsing into her old character before her injury, when she used to hang out with chenle and donghyuck every other day. 

——

"mommy, please?"

jaemin asks nicely, as always, but he's already misbehaved. renjun had only asked him to keep his arms behind his back and _not to touch_ , but as she hobbled back in the room after digging around in their closet for her strap ons (which jaemin is surprisingly shy about, considering his mostly extroverted personality), he'd already disobeyed one of her rules. he looked up at her with puppy eyes, but not even his cute pout can get him what he wants when renjun is like this. 

"jaemin. lie down on your back. and you don't get to touch, otherwise i hold you down."

she sees jaemin wince at the thought, before he moves to settle on his back. renjun knows that her grip is tight, and even though she does feel a little bad when jaemin starts crying about it, a little part of her enjoys watching his pretty eyelashes clump together and tears run down his face. she watches as he shifts slightly, awaiting her next order in desperate hopes of being good, and it makes her smile. jaemin is so cute. 

"baby, what do you want me to do?"

she asks, and has to snap her fingers in front of his face to get his attention, and pull him out of his hazy thoughts. he blinks up at her, seemingly still processing her words, and nods. renjun laughs softly, and runs her fingers through her hair as she waits. jaemin knows that she won't do anything without him using his words, and he always has to use his manners. their dynamic is always changing. sometimes jaemin just wants to be held down and fucked until he cries. sometimes he just wants renjun to be soft and kind because he's had a bad day, and sometimes renjun lets him fuck her, because her boy asks her so nicely, and deep down, she's always looking to please him. 

"want you to fuck me, mommy."

he says softly, chewing on strings of his hoodie that she's let him keep on as he waits, cheeks flushing in embarrassment. she smiles, but pauses as she remembers her boot. she won't be able to move as much, and she bites her lip as she stays deep in thought. jaemin catches on to her train of thought, and he babbles a bit before she hushes him with a kiss on the lips. she smiles comfortingly at him, persuading him to continue his sentence. 

"could i ride you momma? would that work out?"

he asks, eyes wide as he pouts more. renjun nods, knowing that she couldn't deny jaemin anything if he asked like that all the time, no matter how much she likes hearing jaemin cry. she smiles as jaemin hides in the huge hoodie he's wearing, and she moves to hold his hand. he hesitates at first, remembering her no touching rule, but renjun shakes her head. he laces his fingers with hers, and renjun internally coos at his adorable expression. he's _tiny_. 

"bun, are you stretched or do you want me to do it?" 

she asks quietly, and she thinks that she hasn't been loud enough for a second because jaemin doesn't reply, but she waits and realises that he is hiding so deep in his hoodie that his voice is muffled. she leans forward over him, pressing his thin waist down into the mattress with a hand either side and watches as he whines. 

"no, i'm not."

he stutters out. renjun raises an eyebrow expectedly and watches as the cogs and gears in his head turn to figure out what she wants. 

"no, mommy. please could you do it?" 

he corrects himself, words falling clumsily out of his mouth a little too fast. she simply nods, and holds a hand out. jaemin moves with muscle memory, turning over and grabbing the lube they have stored in their top drawer, next to renjun's current book she's reading and jaemin's glasses. he hands it over with a slight tremble in his hand, and renjun smiles as he sinks back into the mattress. 

"you're such a pretty little boy, jaemin."

she comments, and if looks could kill, she'd be six feet under. she rolls her eyes and dribbles lube all over her fingers, wrinkling her nose at the sickly sweet scent of artificial strawberries that follows. she feels jaemin shiver under her, and she laughs a little. jaemin holds his arms out, wanting her closer, and she obliges—of course she does. she silences his content exhale as renjun finally gets her fingers in him, stretching him out as he moans into her mouth. he's adorable, even in this compromising position. she can feel jaemin's hips twitching as she grazes the right spot inside of him a few times, but chooses not to indulge him because jaemin doesn't have stamina like she does. he gets her attention again when he pulls away and begins sucking little hickeys into her neck, careful not to leave marks that are too dark. 

that reminds renjun not to spend too much time stretching him, because jaemin does love the burn that comes with it. when she pulls her fingers out, jaemin whines a little, and pulls at the oversized hoodie renjun has on, which hides her figure. she shakes her head with a laugh, and sits back from him, bad leg splayed out to the side to keep it from hurting. 

"words, jaemin."

she says softly, and he huffs. 

"want it off, please."

he mumbles, but renjun doesn't push him any further—because that would be too cruel, and jaemin is a sweetheart that almost always deserves everything that she gives him. she grips the bottom of the navy hoodie she's wearing, and pulls it over her head. she hears jaemin gasp, and her cheeks flush a tiny bit, when he sees the navy, lacy bra that she has on, that almost matches the hoodie she was wearing. she quickly snaps out of it, and stands up to step into the harness. she sees jaemin watching her, and his cheeks flush bright pink when she looks at him. he sinks into the warm duvet that they have laid on their bed, 

"baby, you're gonna have to get up."

she says softly as she brushes the stray hairs out of his face. jaemin pouts again as he sits up, newly dyed brown hair fluffy with how it's been tousled by the sheets. renjun crawls to sit again the headboard, sighing as she holds out a hand towards his face. jaemin instantly leans into it, and as she strokes his hair, she thinks about how if if he was a cat, renjun could bet that he'd be purring. he crawls over her lap, careful to keep her injured foot away from the both of them, and looks at renjun shyly. 

"you're actually shy about this, baby?"

she asks him, voice soft but jaemin can tell that something else is bubbling under. nonetheless, renjun always wants a polite reply. 

"yes, mommy."

he whispers, and renjun cracks a smile. 

"but what about the time you woke me up in the middle of the night because you just couldn't wait and had to get yourself off? or the time you were all over me, hands up my skirt and everything, out in public? what about when you promised me we were safe in the ballet closet and _you_ couldn't keep quiet?"

she presses, and jaemin whimpers a little. she can see him remembering every event she brings up, and despite her sounding a little mean, she knows that jaemin loves her being a bit cruel sometimes. she hums at his following silence, and pulls him closer to her as he kneels up a little. 

"now come on, bun. say thank you."

she says, as jaemin sinks down onto her strap on. he lets out another whine, and shuts his eyes as he settles fully in her lap. she slaps his thigh, and he yelps, but when he looks at her, he's met with another expecting look. 

"thank you mommy."

——

"renjun, take it easy. do what you can and let me know if something hurts."

taeyeon says as she stands between dahyun and irene, looking at herself in the floor to ceiling mirror. her hands rest delicately on the ballet bar, and she looks down at her foot, which while it's heavily taped, is finally out of the boot and ready to be used again. her pointe shoes are laced just as tight as they used to be, she has a new, comfy leotard to dance in and other than her ankle feeling a little weaker than the other, it feels like she never left. she's heard a few things about their upcoming performances (as in, the next year of the academy) and she is looking forward to what is in store. 

taeyeon had announced before their practice started, the order and dates of the performances they were set to do. there is a production of swan lake, set over a week next month, two months after that, about two nights of the ballet academy's own performance, and set next year, a redo of cinderella and romeo and juliet. hearing the name alone makes her feel a little sad, she won't lie, but she knows that there is a chance that she will get the role again. nonetheless, she quiets her thoughts of the future, because she needs to focus on now, so that later can happen without another broken bone. her ankle is weak, and is in need of rehab and strengthening for her to get back to the level of skill she had pre accident. 

so when the class begins to practice spins and leaps, renjun takes herself away, makes sure she isn't in pain and does her exercises that the doctors gave her. it's painful to watch the girls doing the things she longs to do again, but she has to keep reminding herself that her hard work will pay off when she gets back to full training. 

this is her routine for weeks, but those weeks blur into nothing as the months drag by and her ankle recovers. jaemin is by her side the whole time, always making sure that after practice she ices and rests well and eats a good dinner, even though her ankle is fully healed. she’s been so distracted by her recovery and jaemin, that she hasn’t realised that the auditions for the romeo and juliet are open next week, and that’s when she realises it. 

_she could have another chance._

jaemin and her discussed it before, but that was months ago, when she was still afraid to use her ankle at all. she’d sworn that she wouldn’t do it, especially if her ankle was hurting, but her heart is starting to change. it is a little annoying though—since this is exactly what jaemin told her would happen as she told him that she wouldn’t ever do the performance again. so as they lay in bed together, wrapped up in comfy pyjamas under their covers, renjun turns to him to talk it out. 

“i was thinking about auditioning for romeo and juliet again.”

she says after turning onto her side to face him. jaemin blinks, silent for a second, and it worries her. but then his lips stretch upwards into a huge smile, and he laughs. 

“i told you.”

is all her says, and renjun rolls her eyes. 

“listen, i was _not_ having a good time.”

she whines, and he giggles before lacing their fingers together. he presses a kiss to the back of her hand, and smiles a little more seriously. 

“really though. i’m so happy that you’re gonna try.”

he says, and renjun could _cry._ he’s so kind, and she couldn’t ask for a more supportive boyfriend. 

“i love you.”

——

renjun’s heart races as she stands in alongside tzuyu, and she crosses her fingers behind her back. she thinks her audition went well, but she hasn’t talked to anyone about it, and hasn’t had the chance to see jaemin after his audition. unfortunately, he hasn’t gone for romeo this year—rather he decided to audition for tybalt. still, she’s endlessly happy for him, as he is for her. 

“renjun.”

she snaps out of her daze after she hears her name from taeyeon, and she holds her breath as she waits for the result. 

“you got the role.”

she can’t believe her ears—is she hearing things? or did taeyeon really just say she got the role again?but yes, she must be hearing the truth, because tzuyu hugs her tightly, arms wrapped around her as she congratulates her, and she sees taeyeon and taeyong giving her thumbs ups and congratulations. 

_this is unreal_.

——

her dress flows behind her as she twirls, leaping as she hears the beautiful music streaming into the huge amphitheater they’re performing in. jeno is an equally talented dancer as jaemin, and she’s glad that she got him as a partner. jaemin wished her good luck before their final scene, but there’s not much of a way to describe how she’s feeling. though the end of the ballet is tragic, she feels euphoric as they complete their scene, and the lights turn off. they hurry off stage for the final curtain call, and renjun finally has time to _breathe._

“let us give a round of applause for the cast of romeo and juliet!”

she hears, and they all walk out one by one, lining up at the front of the stage. she sees roses being thrown towards the stage, and a huge smile spreads across her face. she curtsies, and finally, the red curtains draw and the show is over. she almost breaks down from the happiness, but jaemin rushes over with a smile that can only rival the brightness of the sun. she wraps her arms around his waist and they just hug each other, because she knows deep down that she couldn’t have done this without him.


End file.
